{"id":6,"date":"2021-09-11T12:19:55","date_gmt":"2021-09-11T12:19:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.howdoiuseacomputer.com\/?page_id=6"},"modified":"2022-07-16T15:57:56","modified_gmt":"2022-07-16T03:57:56","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.howdoiuseacomputer.com\/index.php\/about\/","title":{"rendered":"About Me"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.howdoiuseacomputer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/SB-Border.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-272\" width=\"225\" height=\"273\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.howdoiuseacomputer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/SB-Border.jpg 382w, https:\/\/www.howdoiuseacomputer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/SB-Border-247x300.jpg 247w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Welcome to my site!&nbsp;<\/strong> I hope you find something useful =)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>My name is Simon<\/strong>; I have been playing with IT stuff for 30+ years in New Zealand and Australia, currently working as a cloud and infrastructure consultant in Auckland.  I&#8217;ve always wanted to create my own site, because I wouldn&#8217;t be where I am today if it weren&#8217;t for all the amazing people that take the time to explain or write about how to implement solutions and solve problems.  Maybe I can help someone too?  And if only one person ever visited this site and it helped them do something; I&#8217;m happy with that &#8211; job done!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>I also wanted to <\/strong>have my own Azure \/ 365 tenancy and domain name, so I can test things related to a current project, or play with new solutions.  So for this site, rather than do it the easy way and sign-up to someone elses platform, I have used an Azure Windows 2019 server with IIS, MySQL, PHP and WordPress.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>All pretty low cost by the way &#8211; cheaper than my monthly internet bill<\/strong> !<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table is-style-stripes\"><table class=\"has-black-color has-text-color\"><tbody><tr><td>Domain Name \/ DNS<\/td><td>NZ $13.00 per year from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.namecheap.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">www.namecheap.com<\/a><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Microsoft 365 Business Basic<\/td><td>NZ $  7.60 per month<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Azure<\/td><td>NZ $50.00 per month (approx.)<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>MySQL, PHP and WordPress<\/td><td>Free<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>This site is a place <\/strong>I can share my scripts, opinions and experiences with Microsoft technologies (on-premises and cloud).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Please note <\/strong>that any opinions are my own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of my employer!  Also, please test any scripts before putting into production.  I cannot be held responsible for any issues that may arise by using my scripts.  But if they dont work for you, let me know by commenting and we can try and sort it out.  Equally, if you find something useful, feel free to link to it from elsewhere, or comment about how it helped you or how you improved it.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>My main focus is assisting customers with their journey to the cloud<\/strong>, away from the legacy systems that still seem to dominate the IT landscape in New Zealand &#8211; are you using M365 Business Premium licensing yet?  If not, ask your IT provider &#8220;why not?&#8221; &#8211; because it gives you more functionality for less cost than E3 licensing.  What about customer facing employees?  Have a look at the F licensing options. &#x1f44c;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">At a high level, the journey to the cloud involves<\/span><\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Sync your on premise objects to Azure AD\u2026<\/li><li>Migrate your email to Exchange Online\u2026<\/li><li>Migrate your files to SharePoint Online\u2026<\/li><li>Migrate your telephony to Teams\u2026<\/li><li>Migrate to cloud apps where possible and use Azure AD SSO\u2026 <\/li><li>Any AD based apps that you cannot move away from? Enable Azure Active Directory Domain Services and move any remaining on prem kit to Azure\u2026<\/li><li>Use Azure Virtual Desktop or Citrix Cloud to replace on premises RDS and Citrix\u2026<\/li><li>Finally, migrate your endpoints to Azure AD, registering them to Intune aka. Endpoint Manager at the same time\u2026<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Done!&nbsp; Now you can disable object sync and decommission your on prem Active Directory and associated kit! (#Big&#x2714;)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>For users&#8230; <\/strong>no more having to be at the office to access something; no more VPN software to connect to the office remotely; no more dual identities or other complications, users can now work from anywhere with the same experience using one identity.  Even from a browser on a mobile phone !!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>For admins<\/strong>&#8230; no more lying awake at night wondering whether the server will crash again before morning, no more data centre visits in your batman nightgown, no more internet outages causing major problems (they can hotspot off their phones now right?), and no more expensive internet, network circuits and S2S VPN&#8217;s between offices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Sounds easy ay!?<\/strong>&nbsp; Well there is more to it obviously, and some serious security considerations along the way \u2013 but using this approach I believe anyone can get away from their legacy infrastructure and into the future!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cheers,<br>Simon &#x1f642;<\/p>\n<div class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div><p id=\"pvc_stats_6\" class=\"pvc_stats all  \" data-element-id=\"6\" style=\"\"><i class=\"pvc-stats-icon small\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" version=\"1.0\" viewBox=\"0 0 502 315\" preserveAspectRatio=\"xMidYMid meet\"><g transform=\"translate(0,332) scale(0.1,-0.1)\" fill=\"\" stroke=\"none\"><path d=\"M2394 3279 l-29 -30 -3 -207 c-2 -182 0 -211 15 -242 39 -76 157 -76 196 0 15 31 17 60 15 243 l-3 209 -33 29 c-26 23 -41 29 -80 29 -41 0 -53 -5 -78 -31z\"\/><path d=\"M3085 3251 c-45 -19 -58 -50 -96 -229 -47 -217 -49 -260 -13 -295 52 -53 146 -42 177 20 16 31 87 366 87 410 0 70 -86 122 -155 94z\"\/><path d=\"M1751 3234 c-13 -9 -29 -31 -37 -50 -12 -29 -10 -49 21 -204 19 -94 39 -189 45 -210 14 -50 54 -80 110 -80 34 0 48 6 76 34 21 21 34 44 34 59 0 14 -18 113 -40 219 -37 178 -43 195 -70 221 -36 32 -101 37 -139 11z\"\/><path d=\"M1163 3073 c-36 -7 -73 -59 -73 -102 0 -56 133 -378 171 -413 34 -32 83 -37 129 -13 70 36 67 87 -16 290 -86 209 -89 214 -129 231 -35 14 -42 15 -82 7z\"\/><path d=\"M3689 3066 c-15 -9 -33 -30 -42 -48 -48 -103 -147 -355 -147 -375 0 -98 131 -148 192 -74 13 15 57 108 97 206 80 196 84 226 37 273 -30 30 -99 39 -137 18z\"\/><path d=\"M583 2784 c-38 -19 -67 -74 -58 -113 9 -42 211 -354 242 -373 16 -10 45 -18 66 -18 51 0 107 52 107 100 0 39 -1 41 -124 234 -80 126 -108 162 -133 173 -41 17 -61 16 -100 -3z\"\/><path d=\"M4250 2784 c-14 -9 -74 -91 -133 -183 -95 -150 -107 -173 -107 -213 0 -55 33 -94 87 -104 67 -13 90 8 211 198 130 202 137 225 78 284 -27 27 -42 34 -72 34 -22 0 -50 -8 -64 -16z\"\/><path d=\"M2275 2693 c-553 -48 -1095 -270 -1585 -649 -135 -104 -459 -423 -483 -476 -23 -49 -22 -139 2 -186 73 -142 361 -457 571 -626 285 -228 642 -407 990 -497 242 -63 336 -73 660 -74 310 0 370 5 595 52 535 111 1045 392 1455 803 122 121 250 273 275 326 19 41 19 137 0 174 -41 79 -309 363 -465 492 -447 370 -946 591 -1479 653 -113 14 -422 18 -536 8z m395 -428 c171 -34 330 -124 456 -258 112 -119 167 -219 211 -378 27 -96 24 -300 -5 -401 -72 -255 -236 -447 -474 -557 -132 -62 -201 -76 -368 -76 -167 0 -236 14 -368 76 -213 98 -373 271 -451 485 -162 444 86 934 547 1084 153 49 292 57 452 25z m909 -232 c222 -123 408 -262 593 -441 76 -74 138 -139 138 -144 0 -16 -233 -242 -330 -319 -155 -123 -309 -223 -461 -299 l-81 -41 32 46 c18 26 49 83 70 128 143 306 141 649 -6 957 -25 52 -61 116 -79 142 l-34 47 45 -20 c26 -10 76 -36 113 -56z m-2057 25 c-40 -58 -105 -190 -130 -263 -110 -324 -59 -707 132 -981 25 -35 42 -64 37 -64 -19 0 -241 119 -326 174 -188 122 -406 314 -532 468 l-58 71 108 103 c185 178 428 349 672 473 66 33 121 60 123 61 2 0 -10 -19 -26 -42z\"\/><path d=\"M2375 1950 c-198 -44 -350 -190 -395 -379 -18 -76 -8 -221 19 -290 114 -284 457 -406 731 -260 98 52 188 154 231 260 27 69 37 214 19 290 -38 163 -166 304 -326 360 -67 23 -215 33 -279 19z\"\/><\/g><\/svg><\/i> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"16\" height=\"16\" alt=\"Loading\" src=\"https:\/\/www.howdoiuseacomputer.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/page-views-count\/ajax-loader-2x.gif\" border=0 \/><\/p><div class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Welcome to my site!&nbsp; I hope you find something useful =) My name is Simon; I have been playing with IT stuff for 30+ years in New Zealand and Australia, currently working as a cloud and infrastructure consultant in Auckland. I&#8217;ve always wanted to create my own site, because I wouldn&#8217;t be where I am [&hellip;]<\/p>\n<div class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div>\n<p id=\"pvc_stats_6\" class=\"pvc_stats all  \" data-element-id=\"6\" style=\"\"><i class=\"pvc-stats-icon small\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" version=\"1.0\" viewBox=\"0 0 502 315\" preserveAspectRatio=\"xMidYMid meet\"><g transform=\"translate(0,332) scale(0.1,-0.1)\" fill=\"\" stroke=\"none\"><path d=\"M2394 3279 l-29 -30 -3 -207 c-2 -182 0 -211 15 -242 39 -76 157 -76 196 0 15 31 17 60 15 243 l-3 209 -33 29 c-26 23 -41 29 -80 29 -41 0 -53 -5 -78 -31z\"\/><path d=\"M3085 3251 c-45 -19 -58 -50 -96 -229 -47 -217 -49 -260 -13 -295 52 -53 146 -42 177 20 16 31 87 366 87 410 0 70 -86 122 -155 94z\"\/><path d=\"M1751 3234 c-13 -9 -29 -31 -37 -50 -12 -29 -10 -49 21 -204 19 -94 39 -189 45 -210 14 -50 54 -80 110 -80 34 0 48 6 76 34 21 21 34 44 34 59 0 14 -18 113 -40 219 -37 178 -43 195 -70 221 -36 32 -101 37 -139 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